The present invention relates to apparatus for temporary storage of printed products, and more particularly to improvements in apparatus for temporary storage of printed products between successive processing machines of a production line. For example, the apparatus of the present invention can be utilized for temporary storage of newspaper sections, signatures or analogous printed products between a gathering machine and a packing machine.
It is customary to treat signatures, newspaper sections and similar printed products in a plurality of successive printing, trimming, gathering, folding, stacking and/or other machines which together constitute or form part of a complete production line. The assembly of two or more machines and suitable conveyors into a production line greatly enhances the output of the plant as long as all of the machines operate at their rated speeds. However, the output of the entire production line must be reduced considerably if a single machine of a series of several successive machines in the production line is arrested or is compelled to operate at less than its rated speed. As a rule, or at least in many instances, the bottleneck which is caused by the slowdown or stoppage of a single machine entails immediate stoppage of the entire production line.